Blues-harp

Blues harp or cross harp is a technique of playing an ordinary harmonica which originated in the blues, not a type of harp or harmonica (although there are some named after the technique). The "classical" harmonica for blues playing is the Hohner Marine Band model, which was affordable, easily obtainable in various keys even in the rural American South, and whose reeds could be "bent" (see below) without deteriorating at too rapid a rate.

Related Topics:
Harmonica - Blues - Harp - Hohner - American South

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A diatonic harmonica is designed to ease playing in one diatonic scale. Here is a standard diatonic harmonica's layout in the key of C (1 blow is middle C):

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This layout easily allows the playing of notes most important in C major, that of the C major triad: C, E, and G. The tonic chord is played by blowing and the dominant chord is played by sucking.

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Blues harp subverts the intention of this design with what is "perhaps the most striking example in all music of a thoroughly idiomatic technique that flatly contradicts everything that the instrument was designed for", by making the drawn notes the primary ones (van der Merwe 1989, p.66). Since the "in" notes are more easily bent (for holes 1-6) and consist of D, G, B, F, A, this allows two things:

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• Bent notes and blue notes, with B and D bending down and F up
• An approximation of the blues scale in G: G, Bb, C, Db, D, F. (This resembles the tuning of the bottleneck guitar).

The player can play slurs or bends around the minor/major third of the scale and around the tritone/fifth of the scale, both of which are vital to many blues compositions. For a further discussion of "bending" on the harmonica, see the harmonica article

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The tuning of a harmonica played in this style is one fifth above the nominal tuning of the harmonica, i.e. in this instance, a C harmonica is played in the key of G minor. Therefore, to be in tune with a normal guitar tuning of E, an A harmonica is often used.

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Many blues harp players are in the habit of soaking the harmonica in a glass of water or similar liquid prior to use, believing that this facilitates bending of the notes. In the case of the Hohner Marine Band harmonica (or any harmonica with wooden parts) soaking can cause the wood to swell which may affect playability. However, rinsing with warm water (and tapping out the excess) will loosen up the brass reeds for ease of bending and overall warmer tone.

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